The other day I got a letter asking if people ever update me on what they named their babies.
WHY YES THEY DO!
Here are a few that I received lately, assume bragging rights are implied where applicable…
First, from the author of ‘No Schmance’:
Hi Duana, sorry for the late update but our baby girl is here and her name is .. .Estela! We get compliments about how timeless and beautiful it is :)
So yeah, now we have Diego and Estela!
Thanks for your help!
Dear Duana:
I want to thank you for responding to my query last year about advice on a middle name for my daughter Mira. We ended up going with "Mira June." I know it wasn't your favorite of the three and I truly considered your suggestions, so much so that I delayed filling out the birth certificate for three days. Anyways, I just wanted to give you this long-overdue update.
Hi Duana
I finally have the time and energy to write back and give a long overdue update on our twins names. Its been 6 months since our beautiful baby girls were born and we are so happy with their names…thank you for your advice and your input it was really appreciated…my husband and I ultimately ended up naming them Amelia Grace and Marlowe Faith, we dabbled up until the end with Alison and Logan as well but now i think they were always going to be Milly and Lo (their nicknames). thank you again Duana. PS: Ive just been catching up on all the names nerds i missed and still loving it, will definately be coming back a few years from now for more advice...
Let’s keep the twin train going, here’s the update on Surprise Twins:
Duana
I am happy to report the twins arrived safely on July 3rd 2015. Thank you so much for your recommendations. Your advice gave us confidence to pick our favourite Italian names. For our "eldest" by 6 minutes - we chose Rocco and for our baby girl we chose Gia.
For what it's worth we really liked your suggestion of Allegra . Gia won out only because I detest the inevitable nicknames of Al and Ali .
Thanks again!
And finally, the U.N. Intervention has come to a détente…
Duana,
Thank you for all of your name nerd advice. I wanted to provide you with an update regarding my email from last year but I've been terrible with updates due to two little ones under 3.
The name debate lasted forever in our household. My husband and I locked horns even after the baby was born. For five days while I was stuck in the hospital, we debated, cajoled, harassed and cursed each other out trying to agree on a name. Each of us stood firm in that the other person wasn't bringing a suitable name to the table. Finally I told my husband that we had to agree on something before we were discharged in order for our son to be covered for health insurance. There's nothing like a (fake) deadline for motivation!
With about four hours until we were discharged, my husband sheepishly asked me if I liked Callum Harris (the middle name being the only thing we agreed upon). Although it was 3 AM, it just clicked. It wasn't on my initial list but for some reason it was something we both really liked. The name is relatively rare in both Australia and Canada, yet still recognizable. I HATE the nickname Cal, but I came to the conclusion that he will probably have a few nicknames growing up that I don't enjoy. After living in Oz for almost 8 years, I've realized that every single person I know has a sh-tty nickname. Aussies are awesome at a lot of things, but their nicknames are the WORST!
I know Callum wasn't a name that you recommended for us but I know you've recommended the name in other posts so I knew the name still had the Duana seal of approval. It remained within the theme of names you had recommended for us.
Thanks again for all of your advice. You are an amazing and objective resource for any serious name nerd!
You know what I love in all of these letters? The satisfaction of a child well named, whether you loved my suggestions or not. Everything’s different when they stop being theoretical words on a page and start being people, right?
Keep those updates coming! And have a great weekend!
Note: Please send your name emails, once only, to [email protected] - duplicates or those sent to Lainey ‘just in case’ will be deleted.
